Some more equal than others

I used to live in Santa Clarita. I moved to the Bay Area about nine years ago but still check in on The Signal occasionally.

Sadly, I have to say that my most recent visit was disappointing at best due, for the most part, to several overly simplistic, misinformed and downright ignorant comments attacking Ms. Tammy Messina’s Second Amendment letter.

Before pontificating on what the founders "thought" or "intended," one should peruse the entire body of writing on the subject from the time: letters, journals, news articles, minutes of meetings, etc.

The first thing you will learn is that the first 10 amendments are guaranteed, individual rights, owned by each citizen, without respect to any concession of government. They are neither collective nor "granted."

If after doing some serious, objective reading you are still feeling superior in your indefensible position for whatever reason, you might want to contemplate the following:

Why does the Department of Homeland Security need:

1.6 billion (yes, billion with a "B") rounds of 5.56x45mm ammunition (used in both M–16 and AR–15 rifles) (some of it hollow–point, which is illegal by treaty for military use);

7,000 (about enough to arm a division), 5.56x45mm personal defense weapons ("assault weapons" if you or I want one) with 30–round magazines ("excessively large capacity magazines" if you or I want one);

For further consideration, at the height of the Iraq war, the entire U.S. military was expending something under 6 million rounds of ammunition a month. Do the math; that 1.6B rounds is enough for over 20 years of hardcore warfare.

DHS personnel do not get deployed overseas, so just who is it they are arming up to be at war with; unarmed illegal border crossers and visitors with expired visas?

Maybe a better question is why have we not seen this discussion on ABC, NBC, CBS or CNN?

If you still think it’s cute to poke fun at the founder’s notion concerning protection against tyranny, then ignore that and just consider your personal self–defense.

If you are foolish enough to believe that the police are here to protect you; I suggest you examine the phrase "law enforcement."

Despite mottoes like "to protect and to serve," the police are here to keep order and enforce the laws; protecting you is incidental. They’ll be there to clean up whatever happened to you after it’s happened.

Finally, if the Second Amendment is solely about militia, why does the egalitarian gun banner, Dianne Feinstein, get to have an unrestricted concealed–carry permit when most of the rest of us can’t get one?

I guess some of us are just more equal and free than others — and THAT is what the Second Amendment is really about.